Friday, December 26, 2014

District 19, Morris School, was established in 1871.
The first school meeting was held March 6, 1871 in the home of James B. Morris.
Morris School was also known as Wreford School. Morris is located on East Lyons
Creek Road almost two miles from US-77.The limestone school is still there and is private property.

James Morris donated the property for the school, and
a limestone schoolhouse was constructed. There is double front door flanked by
two windows, one on each side. There are four windows on each side of the
schoolhouse as well. The district boundaries which bordered the Smoky Hill
River changed four times and in April 1962 when the district disorganized
students were split between County District School Joint 80 and Chapman.

While we don’t have much information on the schoolhouse
itself, we do have a number of interesting school memories.

Don Dibben, who attended the Taste of Geary County Bus
Tour in 2010, remembered, “one night there was a parents’ meeting and at least
some of the children were playing outside. They got the idea to have some fun
by a few of them standing on each side of the road would pretend to be holding
a rope across the road whenever a car would come along. . . there were a lot of
screeching brakes during that escapade.”

One of Angela Dietrich Irvine’s favorite memories was
the really wonderful plays. “We might not have had a lot of kids but by golly
we put on plays that were really something! Our mothers helped out and sewed
costumes—circus spectacles, Native Americans, and Christmas extravaganzas that
featured Santa, a sandman, and ‘we little fairies’.

“The Christmas programs were always attended by not
only parents and grandparents, but literally every resident in the Wreford area
attended for a fun and social evening. After our Christmas play, everyone
shared cookies, hot chocolate and coffee, and Santa would make an appearance
before evening’s end.”

There was a greater sense of community in the rural schools
than can be found now in huge school districts. Angela remembered, “I found out
as an adult that parents brought gifts in advance as well as provided extra
ones for those children whose parents might not be able to afford [it]. I’m
sure this was coordinated by the teacher; it’s just how people cared for one
another in those days.”

Carol Dietrich Brown remembers from her days at Morris
School that there was no indoor plumbing.There were two outhouses, boys on one side and girls on the other.
“There is no way to make a winter bathroom visit—a good thing.” Imagine having
to race across a freezing schoolyard to a freezing toilet to do your business.
Bladder control was a must if students, and the teacher, wanted to avoid
frostbite in uncomfortable places.

The bathrooms at Morris School were two-seaters, and
if students were lucky they could get another student to go to the bathroom
with them. Carol said, “Currently our national emphasis on washing hands to
prevent disease—makes me wonder how we ever washed our hands [after going to
the outhouse]—it is still a mystery.”

There were multiple generations of Dietrichs that
attended Morris School, but of particular pride was Eva Dickson Dietrich who
carved her name in the limestone. According to Carol, “it was hard to think of
her doing such mischief,” but there was proof, literally carved in stone.

While we are sure the students at Morris School worked
very hard, many of the memories we have collected about this district center
around extracurricular activities. There was a two story swing set on the
grounds, an “OSHA horror story” according to Brown. She remembers that the
students all played together. The eighth grade boys were fond of standing on
the swing set with their feet on the edge of the seat, usually spanning a first
grader who sat in between. They would have pumping contests, “to see which
eighth grader could go the fastest and the highest while the first grader hung
tight with fear.”

We’d like to thank those of you that shared your
memories of Morris School, and the others as well.These personal stories are what bring the
schoolhouses to life for future generations. If you have memories of a rural
school you would like to share we would love to hear from you. Please write
your story down and send it in by email to GearyHistory@gmail.com or mail it to
530 N. Adams, Junction City, KS, 66441. You can also stop by the museum and
we’ll record your story for you.

Friday, December 19, 2014

For hundreds of years the newspaper was the
only way to keep abreast of activity going on in the town. Junction City was no
different than any other town. However news has not always been as strictly
defined as it is today. Around the holidays the newspaper was a way for people
to connect with traditions of the past, and one of the most popular methods was
the “Letters to Santa” column. Children from all over town wrote letters to
Santa Claus which were then published, free of charge, in the newspaper. The
following letter came from the Dec. 12th 1963 edition of the
Republic Newspaper.

“Dear Santa Claus,

I am five years old and I go to school. I am
a pretty good boy most of the time. My little brother, Timmy, has the chicken
pox. He’s two years old.

I want an Army tank, some tools, and a truck
for Christmas. Please put something in your sack for my little brother too. He
likes cars and trucks.

Thank you for all the toys you left last
year.

Your friend,

Terry Wunder

135 W. 3rd St.”

The Republic Newspaper wasn’t the only one in
Junction City that would publish these letters either. The Blue Jay Newspaper
had a column called “Santa’s Letter Box” and the letter below was sent in by a
Mr. Bob Baity.

“Dear Santa:

I am just a “Freshy” this year, but I have
been awfully good. Please bring an electric cho cho train, a B. B. gun and a
jumping jack. I’ll leave you a chicken sandwich by the fireplace.

Your friend,

Bob
Baity.”

Letters like these were printed each year in
the weeks leading up to Christmas. These letters
were a regular feature throughout the month of December in many of the
small-town weekly papers. Many are short and to the point, lots are amusing,
and a few reveal heartbreaking details about the difficult lives led by some of
the kids, especially during the depression.

Another popular section in
the newspaper around Christmas was the “I REMEMBER WHEN –“column. In 1953 the
newspaper printed Christmas stories from 15, 25, and even 75 years previous. This
column was meant to highlight annual traditions, and remind readers of how
these traditions have grown over the years. One such tradition that was highlighted in 1953 was the annual Christmas Light contest. This column mentions
the winners from December of 1938.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

The holidays with all the presents and decorations are
always accompanied by food.It doesn’t
matter if you have turkey, chocolate pie, spiral ham with cloves, corn pudding,
Mexican, Italian, or steak and crab legs, we all know when we go home for the
holidays there will be food, the kind that doctors suggest we stay away from,
and lots of it.

Many family holidays are the time when we make those
old family recipes that grandma served at her Christmas dinner. The food we eat
for the holidays not only satisfies our cravings for rich and savory cooking we
try to avoid the rest of the year, it also satisfies our need for the
nostalgic.

The food we eat during the holiday season brings back
memories of our childhood and prompts the family stories that keep us all
entertained and remind us of the good times we had and the new memories we want
to create for the future.

As time passes the recipes for the food we remember
from grandma’s table can fade. One way you might be able to bring back a family
recipe to your holiday gathering is by perusing the cookbooks we have at the
museum. Many of these recipes have been
passed down for generations and local groups like churches, clubs, and other
organizations wrote them down to pass on to future generations. And usually the name of the person who
supplied the recipe is included.

This one is from the United Methodist Women’s
cookbook, Recipes We Like:

Add molasses and milk to dry ingredients and mix
thoroughly; add washed raisins which have been coated with flour. Fill molds
2/3 full and cover with waxed paper. Place on a rack in a large kettle with 3
inches of water. Steam for 3 ½ hrs., adding boiling water as necessary to keep
water level above 1 inch at all times.

Provided by Mrs. E. C. Cook

If you have been looking for the recipe for a food
your grandmother served we just might have it as the historical society. The
Historical Society has 8 cookbooks published by local organizations. These
books not only offer great recipes but a history of the organizations in the
area. If you’ve been looking for your grandmother’s recipe for bread or cookies
we just might have it in one of these cookbooks.

So if you want to look for an old family recipe, or
try a new one, for your family gathering this season you can come by the Museum
and look at our collection of local cookbooks.You can copy the recipes or we can photocopy them for you.I hope your family holiday this season is
filled with fun and good cheer. And if not, then I hope your family holiday is
at least full of delicious food.

This
is the cover of the United Methodist Women’s cook book published in 1988. It’s
one of 8 locally published cookbooks you can copy recipes from at the Geary
County Historical Society.

Geary County Museums

The Museum is open Tuesday-Sunday 1-4 and is closed for holidays.There are three floors of exhibits, both permanent and rotating. We have a wonderful gift shop where you can buy trinkets for yourself or others. The Museum building is available for rent, email for more information. We have three Satellite sites available upon request.